Montana Stockgrowers Consider Meat Processing Feasibility

Most of the people in North Dakota were nomadic or semi-nomadic until about 1100 A.D.

Archaeological evidence tells us that by then, some lived in permanent homes in fortified villages and became sedentary.

The people we know today as the Mandans moved into ND around the year 1000 A.D. By 1100, they had settled in several villages along the Missouri, Heart and Knife rivers. They were still living there in the 19^th century.

They gathered in villages and built permanent houses and are known as sedentary tribes. Along their journey to this location, they learned about corn and how to grow it.

Other People continued to move around, usually following bison herds.

Because these people migrated to find game and plant foods, they lived in housing that could be easily packed up and taken with them, or they built shelters whenever they settled down for a little while. They might have moved 12 to 20 times a year.

They probably traveled more during summer and fall when it was important to find game and plants to preserve for winter. Likely they moved less often in winter.

As the People made changes in their lives, they continued to remember their past and told the stories to their children. Every group of people has a story about where they came from and how they were created. The Bible and Koran tell of the Creation.

These stories came to be known as origin stories. They help us to reach back into the past to learn more about the earliest residents.

Many of the Dakota stories include buffalo because of their importance in the Native culture.. Some groups have more than one origin story.

We can learn a lot about the culture of the People and what qualities they thought were important by reading or listening to their origin stories.

The earliest People to come to ND had creation, or origin, stories. Some of these stories have been preserved through oral tradition. Oral tradition means telling stories about the creation to others, especially the children.

Most of the origin stories are very complicated and very long. There are many characters and many events. The stories are important today because they tell us about the spiritual beliefs and cultural traditions of the People.

Origin stories give us one view of how people came to live here. The stories were handed down from parents to children for centuries. We don’t know what people called themselves when they began telling these stories, but over hundreds of years, they came to call themselves Hidatsa, or Lakota, or Chippewa or another name.

Origin stories tell of some of the great struggles the people went through to emerge on the earth and become fully human.

They had to learn many things and organize into well-ordered communities. They had to learn to understand supernatural powers as well as the natural powers of the plants, animals, rocks and climate.

It is important to remember that some of these stories should be told only at a certain time of the year or under certain conditions.

Since we cannot always meet those conditions when we read the stories, we need to remember to be thankful that the stories have been recorded for us to read and be respectful of the spirit of the people who told these stories over the generations.

The Hidatsa

The Hidatsa have three different origin stories because they believe long ago, there were three different groups of people who eventually came together to become the Hidatsa.

The people established 13 villages along the Missouri that eventually became the 13 clans of the Hidatsa.

The Awatixa (ah wah TEE ha) believed that they were created on the shores of the Missouri River by the great hunter Charred Body, who brought the Awatixa (“People of the Village of the Scattered Lodges”) to Earth.

The Awaxawi (ah wah HAH wi) climbed to the surface of the earth by climbing up a vine.

These “People of the Village on the Hill” lived east of the Missouri River and raised crops until they migrated to the Missouri River and joined the Awatixa and Hidatsa-proper.

The Hidatsa-proper—“People of the Willows”—emerged from the earth near a large lake (often identified as Devils Lake).

They climbed up a vine and emerged through a hole onto the surface.

Tragically, a pregnant woman got stuck in the hole and prevented more people from climbing up the vine. The pregnant woman stopped the migration so there are still Hidatsa ancestors under the earth.

The Hidatsa-proper migrated around the Great Plains until they came to the Missouri River. Here they met the Mandans who helped them cross the river to the west bank.

The Mandans gave the name “Minitaree” or “Cross the Water” to the Hidatsas. Once they arrived at the Missouri River, the Hidatsa-proper learned how to grow corn from other people.

The Mandans

The Mandans were created in two events.

First Creator created the land, animals, plants, rivers and hills west and south of the Missouri River.

A spirit being called Lone Man created the flat land, ponds and grasslands east and north of the Missouri River. Lone Man also created cattle, sheep, birds and white People.

First Creator and Lone Man disagreed about some details of creation, but eventually, Lone Man came to live among the Mandans.

The second event took place at the mouth of the Missouri River. There the people lived in a cave.

A young man left the cave and went to the surface. He returned to his people and told them about the land, so the Mandans left the cave, bringing corn and squash with them.

They lived in different places along the Mississippi River, but then returned to the Missouri River where they met the other Mandans.

Lone Man continued to live with the Mandans a long time, but then decided to return to his home, the south wind.

He promised the Mandans that he would return someday and in the meantime, they would always have his help.

Lone Man returns every spring as the warm wind.

The Arikaras

The Arikara origin story tells us that long ago the people lived in Mother Earth.

Then, Mother Corn brought all the people out to the world.

At first, the people did not know how to live properly, so they wandered. As they wandered, some of them were made into fish, others into birds, moose, bears and other “animal people.” 

Eventually, the Arikaras found a land (in modern Nebraska) that had everything they needed to live. Here, Mother Corn came to them and taught them how to live on earth and how to pray to Man Above.

Mother Corn died, but she left the corn plant to remind the Arikaras of her love for them.

Many years later, the Arikaras moved north to live along the Upper Missouri River.

The Dakotas

The Dakotas tell of coming from across the ocean where they had lived in the land of cold winter and much ice.

They crossed the ocean in boats. When they landed, they found a place where there was plenty of game and other things they needed.

They migrated westward and met the Chippewas in a place where there were three large lakes. While they lived there, white people came, bringing metal tools.

These tools caused trouble for the Dakotas with the Chippewas, but the Dakotas drove the Chippewas away.

 The Dakotas continued to move west until they reached the Mississippi River Valley where they settled in permanent villages.

The Lakotas

The Lakotas believe that long ago, there were only four people on earth.

One of them was the Trickster, Iktomi. Iktomi tricked Anog-Ite into telling him how to get other people from under the earth.

The people under the earth were six men and their wives and a young man named Tokahe, The First One.

Iktomi invited them to the surface. He told them that the world was full of food, clothing and everything they needed. But Iktomi had tricked them; the people found nothing that they needed.

Anog-Ite’s parents, Waziya and Wakanka helped the people by bringing them food and water. Waziya and Wakanka led the people to the forest and showed them how to hunt and live on the earth.

The people learned well how to live and had children. The children of these people are the Lakotas (Sioux).

The Chippewas

The earth, the sun, and the moon were created by the Great Creator, Kitchie Manitou.

Kitchie Manitou also created the plants, rocks, trees, animals, wind and birds. He sent the birds in the four directions (north, south, east and west) to carry life to every place.

Then, when all of the plants and animals had been created, Kitchie Manitou took four parts of Mother Earth and blew into them creating Man.

 Kitchie Manitou then lowered Man, the last creation, to the earth. Man considered all of creation his elders because they came before him.

The Chippewa people who descended from Man first lived by a great salt water, a long way east of where they live now in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota.

For many years, the Chippewas migrated west, always trying to live closer to the place where their Me-da-we religion could be practiced in its purest form. They finally reached the proper place which was La Pointe Island in Lake Superior (the Apostle Islands).

From here, the Chippewas spread in many directions. Some of them migrated into North Dakota, where they lived and hunted between the Red River and the Turtle Mountains

For the earlier 8^th grade ND Studies see the following:

https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr8/content/unit-i-paleocene

NEXT: Blog 73-Part 1-North Dakota 8^th Grade studies: Raising Corn

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Francie M Berg

Author of the Buffalo Tales &Trails blog

A special event took place at the Vore Buffalo Jump site in 2014 when the Foundation Board decided they wanted a tipi. Not just any tipi, but a fully authentic one. And the buffalo hides had to be tanned in just the way women tanned them and sewed them together long before they had horses.

They hold high standards. Vore Buffalo Jump leaders have tried to adopt and use ancient Native American methods and authentic Native tools in their work when possible.

 That meant the tipi had to be small enough and light enough to be hauled by one or two dogs. So why not find Native women to do it?

They soon discovered that the well-known expert in the art was closer than they imagined. The ancient technique was being taught at Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, Montana—not so  far away. And a class of Northern Cheyenne women in the college was studying just that.

Seven Cheyenne women agreed to come and make the tipi in the old way on the Wyoming site.

The last tipi made by the Northern Cheyenne was around 1877—when herds of buffalo were on the verge of extinction and reservations were being established. 

They said they’d be delighted to come, tan the hides and make the proper kind of tipi needed..

 In fact, for these women it would be “A dream fulfilled!”

The women who came were Larie Clown, Victoria Haugen, Lori Killsontop, Tee Jay Littlewolf, Maria Russell, Rebekah Threefingers and Jodi Waters.

The hide was laced onto a frame so the women could use buffalo leg bone fleshers to remove fat and meat from the skin. After the hide had dried and become stiffer rawhide, the hair (wool) was scraped off using an elk horn scraper.

 In an article he wrote for the Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation Gene Gade, then president, wrote that few tasks were more labor intensive—or necessary—than processing the skins of buffalo and other animals into tanned leather and then using it to produce all kinds of essential products including clothing, tipi covers, moccasins, storage bags and many other items.

 It was a time‐consuming job, performed almost entirely by women.

 All tribes in the region were using some form of “brain tanning” by the time the Vore Site was used. It’s a technique that early people throughout the world discovered, in one variation or another. He explains that without this treatment the hides would have quickly become rancid and start to decompose.

 The brain contains oil called lecithin that becomes a natural tanning agent to lubricate the skin. If you intend to make the hide into a blanket or warm winter coat, only one side of the hide needs to be scraped, because the hair doesn’t have to be removed. The hair was left on and the hide left to dry, stretched and taut.

But if you plan to make a tipi cover or use it as leather, all the hair must be removed. Soaking it in water up to three days, loosens the hair and raises and softens the grain layer of the hide..

Because brains “mix oil and water,” they form a stabilized emulsion on the hide. Nearly all buffalo skulls at the Vore site, Gage said, have been bashed open to remove the brain for hide tanning purposes.

The first priority after a buffalo jump that killed many buffalo was to process the tons of meat that would otherwise spoil quickly. Hides were usually tied in bundles and set aside or soaked in water while the meat was being dried and preserved.

 Then the arduous process of “Soak and Scrape, Soak and Scrape!” began, says Gage. After first soaking and cleaning, the next critical step was to thoroughly scrape away any flesh, fat, muscle or connective tissue from the hide—a job the women usually did on their knees.

After working the skin for hours on the frame, the hide was unlaced and another technique stretched the hide: the hide was used to toss youngsters into the air. Such a sport was enjoyed a century earlier.

As a child sat in the center of the robe, those holding the edges of the hide pulled in unison to send the child up into the air. After a dozen tosses, another child got a turn. This unique method stretched the hide and thrilled the children!

The students then used sinew to stitch five hides together to construct the tipi. Their one concession to modern times was the use of metal needles. Sewing the hides together took three days.

On the morning of the dedication, the tipi was traditionally honored by having military veterans walk barefoot across the tipi cover while an honoring song was sung. Cheyenne elders spoke about the importance of this tipi.

The women next set up the pole framework, wrapped the hide cover around the poles, pinned the right and left sides together and inserted smoke flap poles. 

 Alan Blackwolf, Keeper of the Northern Cheyenne Sacred Buffalo Hat, then smudged the tipi.

 Accompanied by drumming and singing by two Cheyenne elders, the group danced in a circle to a Friendship Dance.

For the Northern Cheyenne women, they had accomplished their mission. They were happy and proud of what they had done— ‘A Dream fulfilled!”

Buffalo hides, travel and refreshments had been rather costly. But the Vore Foundation Directors had been able to get grant funds and donations together to do it right.

 So the tipi was constructed on site by students as planned, accompanied by an instructor from Chief Dull Knife College under the guidance of Larry Belitz, one of the few experts in the art.

“To bring this long-sought dream into reality required the effort of the Cheyenne workers, Larry Belitz who directed the tipi-making, and behind-the-scene work of Vore Buffalo Jump Board of Directors,” said Jackie Wyatt of the VBJF, who lives in Sundance WY.

This kind of tipi—made with five buffalo hides—was used by Plains tribes before they had horses. Once the Plains hunters obtained horses, their tipis could become much larger. This one weighs about 90 pounds so it likely would have taken two dogs to pull the travois.

 When finished, the new tipi found a home in the large research building down in the Vore sinkhole, where it now provides inspiration to researchers and volunteers as they work to excavate new layers of bones and develop new educational panels.

 Funding for the project came from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, the Wyoming Humanities Council, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and donations.  Photos credit Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation. See also “The Ancient and Arduous Art of Brain Tanning Buffalo Hides” by Gene Gade.

NEXT: STUDIES FOR SCHOOLS
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Francie M Berg

Author of the Buffalo Tales &Trails blog